On Jan. 29, California State Senator Ed Hernandez proposed a bill that would raise the legal age to purchase or consume tobacco products from 18 to 21. If passed, Senate Bill 151 would make California the first state to raise the legal smoking age.

“Tobacco companies know that people are more likely to become addicted to smoking if they start at a young age,” Hernandez said in a press release on Jan. 30. “We can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines while big tobacco markets to our kids and gets another generation of young people hooked on a product that will ultimately kill them.”

Marin Coalition for Healthy Youth co-chair Bob Ravasio said he thought the bill would be effective in reducing the rate of adolescent and teen smoking.

“The main thing is that it hopefully puts the odds of [teenagers] trying cigarettes at later in life, when people are more mature and are able to make better decisions,” Ravasio said. “If you are 18 or 19, you’ll need somebody who’s over 21 to buy you cigarettes to be able to smoke them and try it under this law. Whereas, under the current law, if you’re 14 or 15, you only need to find someone who is 18 in order to buy you cigarettes.”

Approximately 16 percent of 11th grade students in the Tamalpais Union High School District district smoke cigarettes regularly or semi-regularly, according to the 2013-2014 California Healthy Kids Survey.

Pulmonologist Robert Newbury said that the majority of lifetime smokers become addicted to nicotine while they are teenagers.

“[Adolescents] are more vulnerable to becoming dependent on [nicotine] in comparison to adults,” Newbury said. “It takes about 100 cigarettes, which is about five packs. The first signs of being dependent on nicotine appear within days or weeks, even if [adolescents] just have an occasional cigarette. It often starts even before people are smoking daily.”

According to Newbury, the health risks of smoking include various cancers, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and premature narrowing of the blood vessels, which can cause severe numbness in the limbs or a need to amputate them. The longer a person smokes, the more susceptible they are medical complications.

“Andrea,” a junior who wished to remain anonymous, smokes between 10 and 20 cigarettes every day. She said that she began smoking because she thought that it would relieve her anxiety.

“When I was really young, I smoked. I had such bad anxiety and I thought that cigarettes would help and they did,” Andrea said.

Andrea said she believes the new law would have little impact on teenagers who already smoke.

“Raising the age [to buy tobacco] wouldn’t impact me at all,” she said, adding that she gets her cigarettes from friends of legal age, or from specific stores that have sold to her in the past.

“I could still get [cigarettes] whenever I want. If other people want cigarettes, then they are going to get them one way or another, as well,” she said.

Andrea said that she thought an aim to decrease experimentation with tobacco would be unsuccessful due to the reasons that she believes people try tobacco products, which includes personal discontent and unhappiness.

Andrea also said that she has tried to quit smoking before and has been unsuccessful.  She hopes to quit smoking in the future due to the health risks and expenses of the habit.

“I’m trying to quit with an e-cigarette, and its still helpful, but its not the same as smoking a cigarette. I’ve tried the gum, I’ve tried the patches, and I’ve tried the e-cigarette and I’ve been smoking for about five years now and I still haven’t quit,” Andrea said.

Only about 12 percent of addicted smokers are successful in quitting, according to Newbury.

“The first thing is that you have to be motivated. You have to want to quit. You can talk to people about smoking, and they know the health consequences of it. But, if they are not motivated to quit, they are not going to be successful,” Newbury said. “Then, once you are motivated to quit, you can get help.”

Newbury recommended doctors visits, professional counseling, and avoidance of nicotine as effective strategies to quitting smoking.